Word: viruses
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...events presaged an alarming encephalitis epidemic. By last week lab tests revealed that the disease had stricken 36 people in metropolitan New York and caused at least five deaths in the region. The tests also provided the first clues in what became a fascinating medical-detective story about a virus never before seen...
Within days, Flushing Hospital admitted four more patients with similar symptoms. All were elderly and all spent time in their backyards. That suggested bites by mosquitoes carrying the St. Louis encephalitis virus, a particular menace to the elderly, though usually in the South. Tissue analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seemed to confirm the suspicion. As the tally rose, the city began an anti-mosquito spraying program in a 4-sq.-mi. area of Queens. That quick action seemed to contain the epidemic...
...York City mayor Rudy Giuliani?s epic struggle with killer mosquitoes just took a nasty twist. It turns out that the encephalitis outbreak that has killed three New Yorkers may involve a version of the virus never before seen in the Western Hemisphere. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that its review of the outbreak ?- identified at first as St. Louis encephalitis ?- has determined that at least one of the deaths was caused by the West Nile virus, found only in Africa and Asia. Like the St. Louis version, the virus is carried by birds and transfers...
...cosmopolitan virus does raise questions about the globalization of epidemics, and some analysts believe climate change may be having an effect on the spread of such diseases. "You could never with any certainty tie a disease of this type to global warming," says Gorman. "But there?s an argument being made that climate change may change patterns of disease ?- some plant and animal forms are certainly occurring further north than we?ve ever seen them before." Not much comfort to beleaguered New Yorkers suffering almost nightly pesticide bombardment from the mayor?s helicopters. And if climate change is a factor...
...RAID Mosquitoes carrying St. Louis encephalitis besieged New York City last week, infecting up to 60 people and causing three deaths. What's puzzling--and frightening--is how the mosquito-borne virus got to Gotham; until now, it's been found mostly in the South and West. To battle the bugs, New York has been aerial-spraying malathion, using bug repellent and keeping windows shut...